Authenticity and an Original Designer at Louis Kahn’s Trenton Bath House

Anne E. Weber, FAIA

The Trenton Jewish Community Center hired Louis Kahn to design a new suburban campus for them in
neighboring Ewing Township in 1954. The campus was intended to include a community center with a
synagogue, and a recreation and day camp complex. The Bath House and pool opened in July of 1955,
without the roofs on the Bath House. The roofs were added before the opening of the 1956 season. The
Day Camp Pavilions were constructed shortly after the Bath House. None of the landscaping or the
community center were completed to Kahn’s design, despite designs and sketches extending into 1958.
The architect-client relationship was uneven, likely due in part to a lack of consensus on the part of the
client. While some of the JCC leaders were eager to have Kahn’s visionary design, it was by no means
unanimous. They also suffered from a lack of funding, which made them cautious of committing to Kahn’s
comprehensive schemes for the property. Nick Gianopulos, Kahn’s structural engineer from Keast and
Hood, has said that “…the JCC treated Lou dreadfully.”

The design work was productive for Louis Kahn, despite the lack of commitment from his client. He
attributed the germination of his philosophy of servant and served spaces to the Trenton Bath House.
This nine-square plan is based on a tartan grid, with the narrow zones providing the square corner piers
and rectangular servant zones. The corner piers are the primary structure of the buildings, and also serve
for entrance, storage, access to vaults, and shelter for toilet facilities. The rectangular zones provide for
circulation around the inner square focal point of each structure, and at the locker rooms provide natural
light.
Figure 1: Model of the Trenton Bath House on display at the University of Pennsylvania.

The Bath House designs also foreshadow other of Kahn’s work, such as the Salk Institute and the Kimbell
Museum in the treatment of landscape. The Trenton site designs focus on the creation of rooms, largely
through closely placed tree bosques. The landscaping creates a progression of spaces leading to the
structures. Even the Day Camp pavilions are shown in vignettes as in a clearing in dense trees, an
enclosed outdoor room; in reality, the pavilions are in an open field, and no planting was ever done.
Figure 2: Kahn's 1956 site plan for the JCC. The current Community Center sits much closer to the
Pool complex than in this design.

By 2001, the Trenton Bath House and the Day Camp Pavilions were in a state of considerable disrepair.
The ambivalent attitude of the JCC towards these buildings led them to do little or no maintenance, with
the result that they were even less hospitable to the majority of users than ever. The Bath House opened
in the same year as the Fountainbleu in Miami Beach, and in popular culture, the Bath House suffered by
comparison. As years passed, the contrast between the Bath House and its competitors, the suburban
country clubs, grew even greater. The JCC took pride in their ownership of an internationally known piece
of architecture, and marveled at the busloads of European and Japanese architects who came to visit, but
most of them did not in fact like the buildings.

At the Bath House, the concrete block was covered with mold and moss; the concrete slabs were heaved
and patched; and the toilet and shower facilities were dingy and worn. Two walls were near disintegration
from water damage caused by roof drainage.
Figure 3: Walls are covered with organic matter where roof run-off occurs.

At the Day Camp Pavilions, Kahn’s inventive system for these elemental buildings had proved to be
inadequate within seven or eight years of their construction. The clay flue liners had succumbed to
freeze-thaw damage, and the JCC removed what had not fallen off, and stuccoed the remaining concrete
columns. By 2002, the concrete plank roofs at the two large open pavilions were in poor enough condition
that they were barricaded to prevent people from entering them. The roofs looked dangerous because of
the water staining that developed along the joints, and the obvious corrosion of the reinforcing. After
further investigation and analysis by Keast and Hood, the structural engineers, it turned out that because
of their initial construction, the planks would not fail in a plastic manner, i.e. gradually; instead, they would
be subject to brittle failure, which could happen without warning. They continue today to be barricaded
and out of service.

Because of all these issues, and because the buildings were not much loved by the Community Center
members, the JCC attempted to tear them down, but were stopped by the outcry of local, regional, and
national preservationists. The JCC then changed course, and in 2001 commissioned a preservation plan
for the complex, funded by a grant from the NJ Historic Trust. The JCC sold the complex to Mercer
County in 2006, and the County transferred it to Ewing Township in 2007 with preservation covenants.
Since then, the County has procured professional services for the restoration, and secured another grant
from the NJ Historic Trust for partial funding of the construction.

Several issues facing our team as we approached the restoration of the Bath House and Day Camp
Pavilions called for input from the original designers. While Louis Kahn has been dead for more than 25
years, Anne Tyng, his protégé and mistress, is living in California after teaching for many years at the
University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She was known for her intricate geometries, some of which
comes through in the Bath House designs. The design team also recruited the original engineer for the
project, Nick Gianopulos of the Keast and Hood Company, to design the structural repairs. With
assistance from the archivist at the architectural archives of the University of Pennsylvania, we were able
to set up a meeting with Anne Tyng, Nick Gianpulos, and Michael Mills.

The Bath House is composed of four pyramidal roofs supported from the corner piers. The roofs have no
gutters. Below the roofs, the concrete block walls are located either at the interior or exterior face of the
corner piers, and in two instances centered on them. Where the walls are beneath the roofs, they are in
nearly perfect condition. Where they are outside of the roofs, they are in poor condition at the upper
courses where the water has penetrated through the exposed top surface of the block. Mortar has eroded
from the joints, and cracks have opened up due to corrosion of the horizontal joint reinforcement. Where
the roofs drain directly onto the roofs, the walls are seriously deteriorated, to the point where they require
reconstruction. How to treat these walls, and improve conditions to prevent future deterioration, is one of
the key issues of the restoration, and one for which the input of the original designer could be very
helpful.

Looking at the original drawings, we saw no indication of roof-edge gutters, and no capping on the block
walls. Nick Gianopulos suggested that the Bath House was considered by Kahn to be a temporary
seasonal building because he did not include roof drainage, as he would have done for a permanent
structure. The construction drawings do show gravel-filled circular drainage basins at the centers of the
Bath House sides, but the roofs do not reflect this design. Our search of the archives at the University of
Pennsylvania turned up a drawing that solved this riddle; the initial design for the roofs were intersecting
gables resembling origami, which had valleys centered on the sides of the squares. When our team
discussed this drawing and the design intentions for the roof drainage with Anne Tyng, she did not really
remember this elaborate roof form, although Nick Gianopulos pointed out to her that it had her lettering on
it. She said that she and Kahn had envisioned the water running over the roofs and structure like a ruin,
and this vision has nearly been achieved. She said that gutters were never considered, that they would
destroy the purity of the forms. So we are faced with solving the problems of water entering the walls and
diverting water in an invisible fashion.
Figure 4: The intersecting gable roofs would have drained water right into the gravel pits.

A Snack Bar was part of the original program for the Bath House, and Kahn’s design drawings show it in
three different locations. The Sanck Bar was never constructed to Kahn’s design, but since it is a vital part
of a summer pool club, the JCC constructed one against the wall of one of the pavilions, completely in
conflict with the original design. How to place the Snack Bar was another issue with which we looked to
Anne Tyng to address.
Figure 5: The snack bar shortly after construction of the Bath House. It was enlarged in later
years.

The Snack Bar is shown in three locations – within the Bath House structure at the base of the stair to the
pool; outside the pool enclosure near the Day Camp and recreation fields; and at the corner of the pool
and Bath House development. This corner location is the most developed in both site plans and
renderings, and could be constructed in accordance with Kahn’s thoughts quite accurately. This approach
raises issues of integrity, and conflict with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, which state that
designs that were never built should not be constructed. Several approaches under consideration by our
team included a building of the mass and location shown in the Kahn drawings, but abstracted; a building
in a similar location that helps to define the corner of the pool enclosure area; and a bar-type building that
defines the edge between the pool complex and the Day Camp area. We discussed the Snack Bar at
length with Anne Tyng, and she did not feel that we should be constrained by Kahn’s sketches and
thoughts, but she agreed that the existing Snack Bar should be removed. More than 50 years later, the
building should be of its own time. We have since selected the approach of defining the corner of the pool
enclosure, but with a frame structure that does not resemble the Bath House structures.
Figure 6: The Snack Bar in the form of one of the Bath House structures is to the right of the
community center.

Adjacent to the entrance to the Bath House, Kahn and staff from his office painted a mural on the
concrete block wall. It became severely deteriorated, and was painted over. It does not appear to have
been of much importance to her, because she did not remember the color palette, or much about it at all.
Fortunately, very clear black and white photos exist of the artwork, and a few color photos. If the paint is
removed, it may also be possible to trace the pattern so that it can be re-painted with great accuracy.
Paint analysis will also be able to confirm the color scheme found in the photographs.
Figure 7: The original mural was adjacent to the entrance. The foundation plantings were not of
Kahn's design. (Photo by Jeremiah Ford III, AIA.)

The Kahn drawings contain many drawings of landscaping for the complex, including dense bosques of
trees around the Bath House and pool, and geometrical arrangements of hardscape and vegetation
throughout the complex. None of these schemes were executed, and so this was another issue to delve
into with one of the original designers. The first thing we confirmed with Anne Tyng was that the existing
landscaping around the Bath House, which was installed in the 1950s, was not initiated or approved by
Kahn or his landscape architect. In fact, it was conceived and installed by a ladies’ committee, over the
objections of Lou Kahn. Their approach to the landscape was very different, using bold geometric
arrangements of trees to create outdoor rooms. Another landscape device was varying ground plane
treatment. The Day Camp pavilions and the recreation courts were placed in large circles of crushed
stone to differentiate them from the surrounding lawn, and the ground surface under the tree bosques
was also treated differently from the lawns and walks.

The final issue we wanted to cover with Anne Tyng in our brief meeting was the intention for the circular
element in the center of the central courtyard at the Bath House. It is shown with a plumbing connection
at the center in the construction documents. In the professional photos, it is shown first as a bed of stone
with what appears to be a drain pipe stub extending out of the center. In later photos it is worn down
grass with two rows of pavers around the edge. We wanted to know which as the intention. It turns out
that Kahn intended it to be a wading pool. We had considered a central spray element as a wonderful
addition to this space, but discarded it for liability reasons. After hearing that it had been designed to be a
water feature, we pushed it once more, but the Township turned it down again.
We were fortunate to have the input of Anne Tyng and Nick Gianopulos, two members of the original
design team, to develop the design for the rehabilitation of the Trenton Bath House, the Day Camp
pavilions, and the site. While we had found much from the Kahn archives, the intent behind the drawings,
and the significance of the drawings, was explained by these professionals, enriching our understanding
of them.

We have used this input to design a new Snack Bar that is harmonious and respectful of the Bath House,
and accomplishes Kahn’s goals without being an implementation of the Kahn concept. We have also
pushed ourselves to develop technical solutions to the roof drainage issues that will perpetuate the vision
of the water running over the buildings like ruins without actually ruining them.

We have also used this input to push for a comprehensive site plan incorporating the principles of Kahn’s
designs, despite a lack of support from the Township. We sometimes feel we share some of Kahn’s
experience, as the township administrator responds to our plans including the Community Green by
saying, “Kahn couldn’t convince the JCC, and you are not going to convince me.”